There’s a scene in the new season premiere of True Blood in which Bill, the brooding village vampire, beds Sookie, his mortal girlfriend, after they’ve had an argument. It’s steamy stuff—makeup sex is still makeup sex, even when one party isn’t technically living. Mid-act, Bill bites Sookie’s neck with his fangs in an orgasmic frenzy, then kisses her, smearing her own red blood down her cheeks and onto her lips. Stephen Moyer, the actor who plays Bill, has the difficult job of portraying both a savage bloodsucker and a likable romantic lead, and this interlude, at least, comes off as hot as it does scary.

“I had an e-mail from a lady after Bill bit Sookie for the first time saying, ‘It was all going so well—why did you have to bite her?’ ” says Moyer, when I ask him about handling those two aspects of the role. “I explained to her that it was actually a consummation of their relationship as opposed to a violation. He wouldn’t do that for just anyone.” True Blood, which starts season two this week, is fundamentally a love story between two outsiders. Sookie Stackhouse, played by Anna Paquin, is an otherworldly waitress who can read people’s thoughts (except for Bill’s), and Bill Compton is a 173-year-old Civil War veteran who also happens to be a vampire. “However weird our show is, it’s ultimately about relationships,” says Moyer, who’s on location in Louisiana, where True Blood is set. Created by Six Feet Under’s Alan Ball, who adapted it from Charlaine Harris’s books, True Blood in its first season introduced viewers to a world where vampires live openly but are treated like second-class citizens, even those who, like Bill, want to co-exist with humans. “I play this vampire hero who’s trying to be decent and do decent things,” says Moyer. “And he loves Sookie so much that sometimes he goes too far for her.” Ball notes that he “expertly walks the line between monstrous, noble, and vulnerable. He’s wildly romantic and appealing, and I am not at all surprised by the rabid intensity of Bill love from the fans.”

Moyer, a 37-year-old Brit who has toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company, peppers his speech with “darling” and “love,” and sounds nothing like Bill, whose Nawlins accent spawned the catchphrase “Sookie Stackhouse, you are maaahn!” (If you’re a fan of the show, you’ve tried to repeat it, unsuccessfully.) When I point this out, Moyer immediately switches into “Bill.” “When I’m in my voice and I say ‘Soo-kie,’ that’s just how it comes out,” he drawls creepily, pronouncing Sookie to rhyme with cookie (as opposed to kooky). “Everything moves slowly in Louisiana, including the way they talk,” he says. “The voice has really taken on a life of its own. There’s a parody of it on FunnyorDie.com called Vampire Bill’s Cooking Show, in which they make Bloody Marys.”

Adding to the show’s romantic fantasy is the fact that Moyer and Paquin have become an offscreen couple too, though with (presumably) less biting going on. “In the casting process, they read us together, so our chemistry’s not a coincidence,” says Paquin. “The two characters have to lock eyes and go, ‘Oooh, who are you?’ ” she says. Moyer insists that “we tried to stay professional for as long we could. But it was unstoppable.” The couple tried to keep their relationship out of the press until the first season aired, “because I didn’t want the publicity to be about us as a couple. But now it’s fantastic—not only do we live together, we see each other every day,” he says. That Bill and Sookie’s connection continues into real life seems a natural progression; the show hinges on the fact that these two are meant to be, in some cosmic way. “I hope people feel like it adds to the show instead of taking something away,” says Moyer. “Our relationship has grown in front of the crew, in front of everyone, really. To be honest, it’d be weird if I were with somebody else.”

18.Friend Is a Four Letter WordSookie embarks on a dangerous mission to locate Godric; Bill is shocked when a vampire from his past resurfaces in Dallas; Jason must make difficult emotional and physical choices.07-26-2009

17.Never Let Me GoWhile in Dallas, Sookie connects with one of her own; Jason is rewarded for his hard work at the Light of Day boot camp; Eric shares a secret about his past with Bill.07-19-2009

16.Let’s Take a Trip TogetherBill and Sookie travel to Dallas to carry out Eric’s mission; Jason falls victim to a practical joke; Maryann throws a birthday party for Tara.07-12-2009

15.ScratchesBill enlists Eric’s help to save Sookie after she is attacked by a mysterious creature; Jessica finds a willing suitor in Hoyt; Tara finds her attraction to Eggs interrupted by a swirling fog.06-28-2009

14.Keep This Party GoingSookie and Bill contend with teen vampire Jessica; Jason impresses his Light of Day leaders; Maryann casts her spell at Merlotte’s.06-21-2009

13.Nothing But the BloodA shocking murder outside Merlotte’s bar has the people of Bon Temps reeling; Sookie and Bill’s relationship is tested; Sam recalls an encounter he had with Maryann as a 17-year-old.06-14-2009

Dallas is GOING ! If you are want to meetup please email me.We will have at least 6 hotel rooms full of fans on Friday night many fan events in Friday and Saturday planned ..

from Shreveport TimesIf anyone opens a vampire bar in Shreveport, they better name a drink after Charlaine Harris. Heck, they better ship the profits to the Magnolia, Ark., author, who for the last decade has been penning the Sookie Stackhouse series about northern Louisiana's undead.Advertisement

Harris will be featured at the second Author! Author! Shreveport-Bossier Book Festival at Municipal Auditorium on Saturday. She'll sign "Dead and Gone," the ninth book in the series, after she speaks at 2 p.m.

The festival, which begins Friday night, will pull together 30 regional and Southern authors and offer readings, signings, children's activities and oodles of books. Proceeds benefit Friends of the Municipal, a nonprofit organization.

Harris' series (a.k.a. Southern Vampire series) has been adapted into HBO's "True Blood" by "Six Feet Under" creator Alan Ball. The story is set in Bon Temps, a fictional northern Louisiana town near Shreveport. A minor portion of the first season was filmed locally.

Sookie is a telepathic barmaid who falls in love with a vampire named Bill Compton. Their relationship stands on the brink of two worlds: one of mundane rural Louisiana drenched in sweat, fear and superstition, and the other of mysterious bloodsuckers torn between ancient tradition and mainstream assimilation. (If your taste in mythological creatures is more varied, rest assured the books include werewolves, shape-shifters, witches and quirky humans.)

Some of the details are pretty witty too. Vampires and mortal drinks at Merlotte's, the Bon Temps bar where Sookie works. Vampires order synthetic blood, bottled under the brand TruBlood, and have it served warm. (Fifteen seconds in the microwave tastes best.)

Though writers have long capitalized on New Orleans' supernatural mystique, Harris surprisingly doesn't find much that's gothic about northern Louisiana.

Harris has invented a world where vampires are becoming part of the fabric of American life. The cross-creatural conflicts are laden with mystery, power struggles, blood, betrayal, equality themes, violence, and, sometimes, sex.Read on

AMERICA has become a have and have-not society - those who have HBO and Showtime and those who are dependent on the networks.At no time is that more clear than in June, a traditional time of dread on the networks, whose idea of daring programming is to stick Jay Leno into prime time. And you'll have to wait for September for that "historic" event.

But for pay-cable subscribers, it's always September, as we get ready for "Weeds," about a drug-dealing suburban mother, and the new Edie Falco series, "Nurse Jackie," about a drug-abusing medical practitioner, both on Showtime beginning Monday. The vampire series "True Blood" returns to HBO June 14 and the new comedy series "Hung" follows at the end of the month. The title will have to suffice as the description.

Transgression is the common theme to all these shows, as it has been for most of the pay-cable series from "The Sopranos" onward. For some, like "The Tudors," transgression can come a little too easily, which makes it easy to dismiss pay-cable series as catering to a prurient love of sex and violence or to an adolescent celebration of drugs.

It would also be wrong. The level of sophistication in the writing on these shows is quite remarkable, both in terms of the script and the issues they tackle. Take "True Blood," which on the surface caters to popular taste for all things vampiric; hot bodies having hot sex; and, every now and then, a bit of ultraviolence. They're based on the entertaining enough Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, but like Alfred Hitchcock or Stanley Kubrick in "The Shining," the HBO producers and writers (led by Alan Ball of "Six Feet Under") raise the pulp material to another level, fueled by a juke-joint soundtrack that might even one-up the music of "The Sopranos."

The satire of the religious right, as one example of the show's themes, is razor sharp. Sookie is a waitress who's fallen in love with a sexy, Civil War veteran of a vampire, which drives her brother into greater and greater paroxysms of hatred for the fanged ones, who are continually campaigning for human rights. Or maybe posthuman rights. This season, the brother takes a W-like sudden turn from party boy to religious convert and hero of right-thinking folk. "It's always something out there that gets all the blame or all the credit," says another character, "whether it's Jesus or gin.

June 6thDallas celebrates the return of True Blood with a Contest #4True Blood Season 2 :New American Vampire League VideoTrue Blood Season 2 :New Fellowship of the Sun VideoAlexander Skarsgard : Friendship in the time of warFan Art from FiveonTrue Blood Bloodcopy: Flash If You Love VampiresClub Dead and the Rime of the Ancient MarinerTrue Blood returns June 14th New York TimesAlan Ball Confirms Maryann's Bad Nature in 'True Blood'*New* Season 2 True Blood Cast photosTrue Blood Music Video of the Day: Let's Get Rocked by Def Leopard

June 4thTrue Blood: The Second Season is "Beyond Amazing" (And, Perhaps, Full Of, Uhh, Bloody Cheese)True Blood 2009 Emmy Awards :List of Submissions For NominationHBO's 'True Blood' has oblique local angle in HawaiiTrue Blood nominated for Television Critics Assn. AwardDallas celebrates the return of True Blood with a Contest # 2Fans Question and Answers with Alan BallSome more juicy tidbits about True Blood Season 2Charlaine in True Blood Season 2 FinaleNovelist behind HBO's 'True Blood' planning guest appearanceTransportation Vampire style from True Blood BloodcopyTV actress Ashley Jones, from soap to 'Blood'Romance Twilight fans get chance to cruise with vampire film starsGuillermo Del Toro on VampiresTrue Blood Music Video of The Day: You Found Me by The Fray

The second season of "True Blood" goes down smooth, representing a perfect summer concoction -- long on soapy romance, macabre intrigue, and graphic bursts of sex and violence. HBO's stab at playing to a cult audience has turned out to be perfectly timed for the pay channel, offering a lighter counterweight to the emotionally darker dramas airing elsewhere. And while the vampires-as-downtrodden-minority gay metaphor continues to resonate throughout these early episodes, exec producer Alan Ball and company have firmly established their alternate universe as its own engrossing (and occasionally gross) little world.

Cast additions that came onboard as season one progressed have also shot adrenaline through "Blood's" veins, though the central story remains the same: The different-worlds romance between Sookie (Anna Paquin), who has the psychic ability to hear people's thoughts; and Bill (Stephen Moyer), the vampire born during the Civil War era for whom she has madly fallen, and vice versa.

Their relationship is complicated, however -- and that qualifies as an enormous understatement -- by sundry outside forces, including the regional vampire leader Eric (Alexander Skarsgard), who covets Sookie's powers; and the teenage Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll), who Bill was compelled to transform into a vampire. The latter yields darkly comic results, inasmuch as petulant youth and a thirst for blood are a potentially combustible mix.

Meanwhile (and there are a lot of meanwhiles), Sookie's friend Tara (Rutina Wesley) continues to fall under the spell of the mysterious Maryann (Michelle Forbes), adding a spooky "Rosemary's Baby"-type undercurrent to the proceedings; and Sookie's dimwitted brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten) experiences a religious awakening, enlisting in the vampire-hating Light of Day Institute.

In short, there's a helluva lot going on, and the assorted subplots feel more compelling this season, including the constant sense of menace surrounding both Eric and Maryann. Moreover, the religious overtones of the Jason storyline should irritate the religious right (just to drive home the parallel, a sign in the credits says "God Hates Fangs"), whose intolerance toward gays has been superimposed onto the undead. "They live forever, but we were here first!" the group's acolytes cheerfully sing on the bus to their religious retreat.

Without spoiling anything, there is also a scene in the second hour (four were made available) that might be as grotesque as anything ever produced for television. In fact, I'm feeling a little nauseous now just thinking about it, which I realize, for some, will in and of itself provide a strong inducement to watch.

Fortunately, "True Blood" boasts several less-grisly enticements, as well as the whole women/teenagers-love-vampires fantasy that, frankly, strikes me as vaguely pathetic. Then again, there's something to be said for a series that connects with audiences on various levels --with characters both above ground and below.